Thiruvananthapuram: Three RSS workers held for house attack

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three RSS workers were held on Saturday for attacking the house of  Bineesh Kodiyeri. With this,  the number of people  arrested in connection with the CPM-BJP violence here  has risen to 14. The trio, all residents of Koottanvila close to Mr Kodiyeri’s house at Maruthankuzhy,  had allegedly attacked the house  around 3 p.m. after a CPM attack on the BJP state committee office. “The seven-member gang on four bikes were spotted passing near the house on CCTV footages we obtained. They were identified and detained by Poojapura police. Four more will be arrested,” said a senior police official.

The attacks in the city happened under Fort and Museum police circle. Fort police were yet to make any new arrest, barring that of six BJP workers and one CPM worker held a day earlier. Museum police had arrested four CPM workers, including councillor I.P. Binu on Friday for the attack on the BJP state committee office. Meanwhile, BJP leaders alleged that police were  persecuting their workers and sparing CPM attackers.

“The six,  the so-called BJP workers held at Fort,  were guiding a television channel crew to the areas affected by violence in the  night. When CPM workers encircled them, the police intervened and took six of them into their vehicle. The next we heard was their arrest,” said BJP state leader V.V. Rajesh. A new CCTV footage of a four-member gang attacking the shop and injuring BJP Chalai area secretary Nataraja Kannan was released by his party on the social media. In yet another incident of violence on  the outskirts, light bulbs at the house of Kattakada town branch secretary Tomy Anthony were  broken by assailants believed to be  BJP workers.